Ímar ( ; died c. 873) was a powerful Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the progenitor of the Uí Ímair dynasty, who would go on to dominate the Irish Sea region for several centuries. He was the son of the king of Lochlann, identified in the non-contemporary Fragmentary Annals of Ireland as Gofraid. The Fragmentary Annals name Auisle and Amlaíb Conung as his brothers. Another Viking leader, Halfdan Ragnarsson, is considered by some scholars to be another brother. The Irish Annals title Amlaíb, Ímar and Auisle "kings of the foreigners". Modern scholars use the title "Kings of Dublin" after the Viking settlement which formed the base of their power. Some scholars consider Ímar to be identical to Ivar the Boneless, a Viking commander of the Great Heathen Army named in contemporary English sources who also appears in the Icelandic sagas as the eldest son of the legendary Viking Ragnar Lodbrok by third wife Aslaug.
During the late 850s and early 860s, Ímar was involved in a protracted conflict with Máel Sechnaill, overking of the Southern Uí Néill and the most powerful ruler in Ireland. The cause of the conflict is uncertain, but it may have been sparked by competition for control of Munster and its resources. Ímar allied successively with Cerball, King of Osraige and Áed Findliath, overking of the Northern Uí Néill against Máel Sechnaill. Máel Sechnaill died in 862 and his lands were split, effectively ending the conflict. Following this Ímar and his kin warred with several Irish leaders in an attempt to expand their kingdom's influence. Ímar disappears from the historical record in Ireland between the years 864 and 870; this is consistent with Ímar being identical to Ivar the Boneless - Ivar was active in England between these two dates and he is not mentioned by English sources after 870. In 870 the annals record that Dumbarton Rock, the chief fortress of the kingdom of Strathclyde, was successfully captured by Ímar and Amlaíb following a four-month-long siege.
Ímar died in 873 and is given the title "King of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain" in contemporary annals. The Fragmentary Annals record that Ímar's father also died that year, and it is believed that at that time their combined territory encompassed Dublin, the Isle of Man, the Western Isles, Orkney, and large parts of the northern and western Scottish coast including Argyll, Caithness and Sutherland.
Background Norse contact with Scotland predates the first written records in the 8th century, although the nature and frequency of these contacts is unknown.Graham-Campbell and Batey, pp. 2, 23 Excavations on the island of Unst in Shetland indicate that Scandinavian settlers had reached there perhaps as early as the mid-7th century,Ballin Smith, Taylor and Williams, p. 289, 294 and from 793 onwards repeated raids by Vikings on the British Isles are recorded. "All the islands of Britain" were devastated in 794Thomson, pp. 24–27 with Iona being sacked in 802 and 806.Woolf (2007), p. 57 The Frankish may record the conquest of the Inner Hebrides by Vikings in 847.Woolf (2007), pp. 99–100, 286–289; Anderson, p. 277; Graham-Campbell and Batey, p. 45 Scholarly interpretations of the period "have led to widely divergent reconstructions of Viking Age Scotland",Barrett, p. 412 especially in the early period, and Barrett has identified several competing theories, none of which he regards as proven.Barrett, pp. 419, 422 Donnchadh Ó Corráin notes: "when and how the Vikings conquered and occupied the Isles is unknown, perhaps unknowable".Ó Corrain (1998), p. 25
The earliest recorded Viking raids in Ireland occurred in 795.Ó Corrain (1998), p. 27; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 795 Over time, these raids increased in intensity, and they overwintered in Ireland for the first time in 840–841.Ó Corrain (1998), p. 28; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 840 In 841 a longphort was constructed at (Irish for hurdled ford), a site which would later develop into the city of Dublin.Holman, p. 180 Longphorts were also established at other sites around Ireland, some of which developed into larger Viking settlements over time. The Viking population in Ireland was boosted in 851 with the arrival of a large group known as "dark foreigners" – a contentious term used to refer to the newly arrived Vikings, as opposed to the "fair foreigners", i.e., the Viking population which was resident prior to this influx.Downham, p. 14 A kingdom in Viking Scotland was established by the mid ninth-century, and it exerted control over some of the Vikings in Ireland. By 853 a separate kingdom of Dublin had been set up which claimed control over all the Vikings in Ireland.Ó Corrain (1998), pp. 28–29
The main historical sources for this period are the Norse sagas and the Irish annals. Some of the annals, such as the Annals of Ulster, are believed to be contemporary accounts, whereas the sagas were written down at dates much later than the events they describe and are considered far less reliable. A few of the annals, such as the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland and the Annals of the Four Masters, were also compiled at later dates, in part from more contemporary material and in part from fragments of sagas.Radner, pp. 322–325 According to Downham, "apart from these additions [of saga fragments], Irish chronicles are considered by scholars to be largely accurate records, albeit partisan in their presentation of events".Downham, p. 12
Biography
Arrival in Ireland Ímar is first mentioned in contemporary Irish annals in 857, four years after his brother Amlaíb Conung is recorded as arriving in Ireland.Downham, pp. 258–259 The later Fragmentary Annals of Ireland suggest Ímar may have come to Ireland shortly after his brother:Anderson, pp. 281–284
Ímar and Amlaíb were joined in Ireland by another brother, Auisle, sometime before 863. From this date onwards the three brothers are described as "kings of the foreigners" by the annals, but in modern texts they are usually labelled as kings of Dublin, after the Viking settlement which was the base of their power.Holman, p. 107; Clarke et al., p. 62; Ó Corrain (1998), pp. 28–29 Lochlann, originally Laithlinn or Lothlend, the land where Ímar's father was king, is often identified with Norway, but it is not universally accepted that it had such a meaning in early times.Ó Corrain (1998), p. 9 Several historians have proposed instead that in early times, and certainly as late as the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, Lochlann refers to the Norse and Norse-Gael lands in the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Northern Isles and parts of mainland Scotland.Ó Corrain (1998), pp. 14–21; Helle, p. 204 Whatever the original sense, by the twelfth century, when Magnus Barefoot undertook his expedition to the West, it had come to mean Norway.Ó Corrain (1998), pp. 22–24
War with Máel Sechnaill The first mention of Ímar in Irish annals in 857 concerns a war fought between Ímar and Amlaíb Conung against Máel Sechnaill, overking of the Southern Uí Néill, and a group of Vikings sometimes known as the Norse-Irish. Máel Sechnaill was the most powerful king in Ireland at the time and his lands lay close to the Viking settlement of Dublin.Downham, p. 17 The fighting began in the previous year: "Great warfare between the heathens and Mael Sechnaill, supported by Norse-Irish" is reported by the Annals of Ulster.Annals of Ulster, s.a. 856; Ó Corrain (1998), p. 30
The fighting was focused on Munster; Máel Sechnaill sought to increase his influence over the kings there. He took hostages from the province in 854, 856 and 858,Annals of the Four Masters, s.aa. 854, 856, 858; Annals of Ulster, s.aa. 854, 856, 858; Choronicon Scotorum, s.aa. 854, 856, 858 and the power of the over-kings had been weakened in 856 by a Viking raid on the royal centre at Lough Cend, when Gormán son of Lonán, a relative of Munster's over-king, was killed alongside a great many others.Downham, p. 17; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 856; Choronicon Scotorum, s.a. 856 This weakness likely drew the gaze of both Máel Sechnaill and the Vikings, and their competition for Munster's resources may have been the cause of the war. Early battles seem to have gone the way of the Vikings: Ímar and Amlaíb "inflicted a rout on Caitill the Fair and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster".Annals of Ulster, s.a. 857 Although there is no certain evidence to suggest that this Caitill is the same person as the Ketill Flatnose of later sagas, Anderson and Crawford have suggested that they are the same person.Anderson, p. 286, note 1; Crawford, p. 47
In 858 Ímar, allied with Cerball, King of Ossory, routed a force of Norse-Irish at Araid Tíre (east of Lough Derg and the Shannon in modern-day County Tipperary).Ó Corrain (1998), p. 30; Downham, p. 18; Annals of the Four Masters, s.a. 858; Choronicon Scotorum, s.a. 858 Ossory was a small kingdom wedged between the larger realms of Munster and Leinster. At the beginning of his reign in the 840s, Cerball's allegiance was pledged to the over-king of Munster, but as that kingdom grew weaker Ossory's strategic location allowed opportunities for his advancement.Duffy, p. 122 Cerball had previously fought against the Vikings, but he allied with them to challenge the supremacy of Máel Sechnaill and his Norse-Irish allies.Duffy, p. 122; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 847 The following year Amlaíb, Ímar and Cerball conducted a raid on Máel Sechnaill's heartlands in Meath, and in consequence a royal conference was held at Rathugh (modern-day County Westmeath).Downham, p. 19; Duffy, p. 122; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 859; Annals of the Four Masters, s.a. 859; Choronicon Scotorum, s.a. 859 Following this meeting Cerball shed his allegiance to the Vikings and formally submitted to Máel Sechnaill in order to "make peace and amity between the men of Ireland".Annals of Ulster, s.a. 859
With their ally turned against them, Ímar and Amlaíb sought a new alliance with Áed Findliath, overking of the Northern Uí Néill, and rival of Máel Sechnaill.Downham, p. 19 In 860 Máel Sechnaill and Cerball led a large army of men from Munster, Leinster, Connacht and the Southern Uí Néill into the lands of Áed Findliath near Armagh. While the southern forces were encamped there, Áed launched a night attack, killing some of the southern men, but his forces took many casualties and were forced to retreat.Downham, p. 19; Annals of the Four Masters, s.a. 860; Annals of Ulster, s.a. 860; Choronicon Scotorum, s.a. 860; Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, § 279 In retaliation for this invasion Amlaíb and Áed led raids into Meath in 861 and 862, but they were driven off both times.Downham, p. 19; Annals of the Four Masters, s.aa. 861, 862; Annals of Ulster, s.aa. 861, 862; Choronicon Scotorum, s.a. 861 According to the Fragmentary Annals this alliance had been cemented by a political marriage:
In later years, alliance between the Northern Uí Néill and the Vikings of Dublin became a regular occurrence: the Northern and Southern Uí Néill were frequent competitors for supremacy in Ireland, and the uneasy neighbourhood between Dublin and the Southern Uí Néill made the Vikings natural allies for the Northerners.
Later life